Romeo and Juliet

signet classics have great introduction and commentaries

Till now, I had always found Shakespeare's language so daunting that after a while I gave up on reading him. Thanks to the Barnes&Noble editions, this has changed for me. First of all, they have an outstanding introductory essay where I read for the first time that Shakespeare's language is difficult for everybody and why. The realization that the problem was not just me gave me the courage to persevere. But for me the main advantage of these editions is that I get just the right amount of help with Shakespeare's language, without being overburdened with extra information that might be interesting but slows me down and makes me lose interest (e.g. the Arden Shakespeare editions). Especially helpful is that the explanations are split into two. Just beside the text are the translations of archaic words or "false friends", words we know but that were used with a different meaning in Shakespeare's time, such as "jealous". In other editions you are forced to search somewhere far away for these explanations and the editors wrongly assume that explaining such words once is enough (a seemingly minor issue which can become extremely frustrating). On the opposite page of Barnes&Noble Shakespeare more complicated expressions are explained, such as allusions to things we are no longer familiar with or cleverly crafted poetic phrases that probably would have caused Shakespeare's contemporaries difficulties too. Somehow, I found it much easier and faster to look for these explanations on the side rather than at the bottom. I was also agreeably surprised by the cheapness of these Barnes&Noble editions, I don't know how to manage to make money on them. My only disappointment is that they have not brought out the whole Shakespeare yet, I sincerely hope they will.

This book works for the AP 9th grade English class.

While the general summary in the introduction and the act summaries are almost redundant, Shakespeare Made Clear is a very good introduction to Shakespeare. The page-by-page glossary is really handy, and this format allows you to continue reading the play without having to flip to the back of the book. I wish I had had this resource when I was in high school!The translations from Old English into modern English are very well done. They thoroughly cover each line in the play. And they're not cheesy or overly tech-y, but they're also not for young children. The use of words like predicament, alderman, etiquette, banished, mangled, and blunted are in keeping with both the subject matter and the story. The vocabulary definitely reflects the expected vocabulary of a high schooler or older, which is great because Romeo and Juliet wasn't written for a younger audience.I would definitely recommend this book to any literature students who'd like to be better informed about the story surrounding Romeo and Juliet. There's even a section covering the themes in the play, which might be helpful for discussions or literary papers. I'd even recommend this book to Shakespeare aficionados. You might be surprised by the depth of information presented in this book.

For school

Film, comic TV series adaptations multiply the story of Romeo and Juliet. I have enjoyed many of its mirrors as the version with Leonardo DiCaprio in Miami, the kung fu version with Jet Li, the black and white classic with Cantinflas ("London! I mean... Paris!"xD), or Juleo and Rumiet by Chespirito, among many others. But just now I dared to read the original and it was jaw-dropping...Shakespeare is invisible. He creates a world where he is not seen and all is doomed to fit or crash by its own accord. The first scenes indirectly set the following drama. In a world where Romeo and Juliet are not meant to be, they violently and inevitably fall in love with each other. There is Rosaline, whom Romeo loved with juvenile passion to her idealized shape. She is there and she is not there to make a contrast with the feelings toward Juliet. Juliet for her part has to clad her tears of love with the disguise of mourning for her cousin Tybalt; she utters words of revenge against Romeo because the world is against her love. Similar to the end of Don Quixote, when he awakes from madness to the tiredness of reality, Romeo also, at his end, has no romance but solitary longing; one that awakes him into a conscious lucidity of his "world-weary flesh" of man. The moment in which he is alone with himself after losing everything at hands of death... is not Hamlet that descends into madness, is Romeo that now seems to understand everything. Rather than romance Romeo and Juliet is about the struggle of small humanity against destiny, to do anything despite to have the whole universe plotting against you. As so this story is a triumph.Borges said that secretly the national book of Englishmen is the bible, not Shakespeare's works; and that Shakespeare's works was secretly the national book of Germany, not Goethe's works. I love so much the diverse authors of the United Kingdom, especially those at the end of 19th century and beginning of 20th century. But I have to concord that Shakespeare seems different. Clearly universal, not for the location of his plays, but because the human nature is common to each man and woman; a quality that Romanticism, in its insistence for exotic objects to clad the fellow citizens instead to get to to the heart of the exotic cultures, failed to accomplish (although in fairness perhaps that wasn't its goal). Maybe indeed Shakespeare is more akin to the Germanic and Nordic old sagas, those that have a wise understanding of men and women, with characters that deeply say far more in their actions or in subtle words.About the AmazonClassics Edition it has a minimal of X-Ray to indicate the allegiance of each character to the Capulet or Montague families. Beyond that there are not footnotes nor prologues; and I am happy for that because Shakespeare is better discovered without intermediaries.

Needed for 9th grade English.

igual que la descripción y foto

Assim, gostei mas estranhei a demora em fim chegou bem e em perfeitas condições

Good quality for price - just needed something I could write in for teaching R&J! Wouldn't recommend this addition for student use as it doesn't come with helpful side notes/explanations, but for my purposes this was great.

Very good for kids

Perfetto, prodotto arrivato in ottime condizioni e in tempi relativamente brevi. Consigliato per i lettori anche non troppo esperti nella lingua inglese, anche perché dotato di note utili alla comprensione.